First-year Men’s Basketball Head Coach Chris Labelle spent five years playing basketball for Centenary University. Chris has solidified himself as one of, if not the best, basketball player to ever wear the Cyclones jersey. I sat down with Labelle to ask him about his playing experience and what he expects out of himself and his team as a coach.  

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Q: What was it like playing here as a student and immediately stepping into the role of coaching?

A: It was a lot at first. I definitely think it was a surprise, obviously just getting done playing, doing a year working with Coach Rose Haller with the women's team and then jumping right into coaching. 

It was definitely a lot to handle in a little bit of time, but  I just kind of trusted that I was just going to put the work in and hopefully get the guys to play as hard as possible. 

Everything else just fell into place after that, so just kind of worried about what I can control and then just let everything else handle itself, leave it up to God, and hope that he had my back forward. 

Luckily, the work ethic that I had as a player brought over into coaching and I think it is starting to rub off on some of the guys a little bit. Now, it's been a good transition into getting into coaching but also still have that related ability to have with someone that just got done playing himself. 

Q: You were an assistant on the women’s staff for a year before becoming the men's head coach. What did you learn from Coach Haller as the assistant coach? 

A: I learned a ton. I learned that if you're not a player anymore, you have to find different ways to teach as much as you might know about the game.  You have to find ways to teach it and I think that is the biggest part is that different people learn different ways, and finding that right niche to know what to say, when to say, and how to say it. 

She does a really good job with her girls and keeping them in line and keeping them getting and moving in the right direction. So she did a great job. She just kind of taught me, and I think the game is slowed down a little bit for the women's side so it was a really good start for me to kind of be able to teach at that.

Q: From the moment you stepped foot on campus to the last game of your career, you started every game. How did you keep yourself in it  mentally and physically? 

A: Yeah, it was a lot. It definitely was something where I got to step into a leadership role as a freshman. We were kind of in a new age with Coach Pitts coming in. He wasn't the coach that recruited me here, actually; the coach that recruited me here ended up leaving right before I got here, so I was just kind of rolling with the punches, rolling with change.

Just put in work, trust in my work ethic, showing up every day, just trying to be the best teammate I could be, being the best basketball player I could be. Then, obviously, be the best student  I could be. 

As I went through my five years of actually being a Centenary men's basketball player, there was a ton of change and a ton of different faces, but just putting in that faith into my work, faith into everything that we had as a program. 

What we were building was kind of easy; it was easy to step up into a leadership role, and I enjoy being that person that people can look to and kind of be like, “that's the example that we want to be.” It was something that I really enjoyed doing. 

Q: You are a future Centenary Cyclone Hall Of Famer just based on your time here as a student; how does that make you feel? 

A: It’s awesome. This place is home. 

At the end of the day  I got to spend five years here as a student. Now, getting into coaching, I couldn’t picture a better place to start. 

It’s  the job I've always wanted to do my whole life, so getting the opportunity to do it at the place that I've called home for the past five years is absolutely amazing. Then having the nice career and the work that I did as a player is awesome to  build back that off my coaching. 

The coaching side of the game, I think it's fun having that family environment that you get to preach to your recruits, you get to preach to your team that  it's a “WE.” We're a big family, we're trying to get better every day. 

Obviously, being a player and going through it yourself, especially here, it means something. The guys can see that I have a lot of passion for this place, for basketball, so I think that it is something that bleeds through the program and something we can go off going forward. 

Q: This team’s roster is exceptionally young with the exception of two graduate students. What do you expect from the team and out of your two veterans? 

A: Yeah, absolutely. Our two grad guys are our only two seniors. So we need the leadership side of it from them. We are a very young team. Almost a  brand new team- we got a lot of transfers in so just having those two seniors  kind of be the glue. 

There's always going to be highs and lows throughout a season so just trying to stay mentally tough through the good, through the bad, through everything, just trying to stay even keel as much as possible. If those two guys can set the tone for that I think our program can follow. We are young, but I think we're driven. 

We got a lot of guys looking to prove something whether it's at a new school, or if they're freshman coming in. Our guys even from last year are looking to prove something. 

We're trying to build from not being a two win team, so I think there's a lot of guys who are just motivated and, hopefully, we can use that motivation and those guys can be the tone for that leadership going forward. 

Q: What was one thing you wish a coach told/taught you while playing that you want your players to know? 

A: The big thing is that you are not always going to have good days. For me, I think that's a big thing. 

The  perfect example, our fifth years, doesn't mean every single day they're going to come in and do well. There's going to be something going on in life where you're going to be missing shots so you're allowed to have bad days.  You don't always have to come in and be Mr. Smiley and perfect but you know what you do when you're having those bad days, how you build off of it, how you get back up when you get knocked down.

I think that's a big part of life in general. How can you respond? Can you roll with the punches? Can you just keep fighting and swinging away? 

That is something as a coach now I try to stress to the guys whether good, bad, or indifferent. You got to stay level headed minded, mentally tough and find that way to keep fighting and swinging. 

Q: Is there anything you would like to add that we did not cover?

A: I think we have an exciting team this year.  I would love the Centenary community to come out and support us this year. 

I think we've got a lot of guys that are looking to prove themselves. We got a brand new program, a brand new culture that we're trying to build. I think the more we can have the university built behind us, the better I think we're going to be. The school is going to be, and benefit from it. 

If you could come out to a game, if you could come to a practice, we are open doors for everybody.  We are a big Centenary community and hope to see everyone at the games and appreciate all the fans and family that have been a huge support to us already. 

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The Cyclones are currently 4-5 in the 2024-25 season, and as Coach Labelle has said, this team has a lot to prove.